NewsRx Health back issues from August 2008:
NIAID will not move forward with the PAVE 100 HIV Vaccine Trial.
Aug 04, 2008 ... After soliciting and considering broad input from the scientific and HIV advocacy communities, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has determined that it will not conduct the HIV vaccine study known as PAVE ...
Discovery of a mechanism that regulates cell movement.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A study performed by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), in collaboration with researchers at the Instituto de Biologia Molecular of the CSIC, reveal a mechanism that controls the movement of cells in a tissue by regulating cell adhesion. This same ...
Calcium may be the key to understanding Alzheimer's disease.(Report)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that mutations in two proteins associated with familial Alzheimer's disease disrupt the flow of calcium ions within neurons. The two proteins, called PS1 and PS2 (presenilin 1 and 2), interact with a calcium ...
Verbally aggressive mothers direct their children's behavior.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Researchers led by Steven R. Wilson of Purdue University videotaped forty mothers as they completed a ten minute play period with one of their children between the ages of three and eight years. The mothers then completed a series of questionnaires including the Verbal Aggressiveness ...
DNA sewing machine.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Japanese scientists have made a micro-sized sewing machine to sew long threads of DNA into shape. The work published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Lab on a Chip demonstrates a unique way to manipulate delicate DNA chains without breaking them. Scientists can diagnose ...
Standards in stem cell research.(Report)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Standards in stem cell research help both scientists and regulators to manage uncertainty and the unknown, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Efforts to standardise practices across different labs is, however, a balancing act where the autonomy of ...
Scientists identify how gastric reflux may trigger asthma.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Researchers at Duke University Medical Center appear to have solved at least a piece of a puzzle that has mystified physicians for years: why so many patients with asthma also suffer from GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease. Clinicians first noted a relationship between the ...
1 missing gene leads to fruitless mating rituals.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Male fruit flies missing a gene for one particular odor receptor become clueless in matters of love, scientists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered. Because they lack the ability to read important chemical cues, these flies will indiscriminately attempt to have sex ...
Viral recombination another way HIV fools the immune system.
Aug 04, 2008 ... When individuals infected with HIV become infected with a second strain of the virus, the two viral strains can exchange genetic information, creating a third, recombinant strain of the virus. It is known that the presence of multiple viral strains, called superinfection, frequently leads ...
Money makes the heart grow less fond... but more hardworking.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Money is a necessity: it provides us with material objects that are important for survival and for entertainment, and it is often used as a reward. But recent studies have shown that money is not only a device for gaining wealth, but a factor in personal performance, interpersonal ...
No justification for denying obese patients knee replacements.
Aug 04, 2008 ... There is no justification for denying obese patients knee replacement surgery: They benefit almost as much as anyone else from the procedure, concludes a small study published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Around 55,000 knee replacements are performed ...
MIT identifies cells for spinal-cord repair.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A researcher at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has pinpointed stem cells within the spinal cord that, if persuaded to differentiate into more healing cells and fewer scarring cells following an injury, may lead to a new, non-surgical treatment for debilitating spinal-cord ...
U-M study: Herceptin targets breast cancer stem cells.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A gene that is overexpressed in 20 percent of breast cancers increases the number of cancer stem cells, the cells that fuel a tumor's growth and spread, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The gene, HER2, causes cancer stem cells ...
Class of antibiotics can enhance gene-silencing tool.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A way to turn off one gene at a time has earned acceptance in biology laboratories over the last decade. Doctors envision the technique, called RNA interference, as a tool to treat a variety of diseases if it can be adapted to humans. Emory University researchers have discovered ...
Heart disease is linked to worse mental processes that, in turn, predict the onset of dementia.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Coronary heart disease is associated with a worse performance in mental processes such as reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency, according to a study of 5837 middle-aged Whitehall civil servants. The study also found that the longer ago the heart disease had been diagnosed, the worse ...
Biofilms use chemical weapons.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Bacteria rarely come as loners; more often they grow in crowds and squat on surfaces where they form a community together. These so-called biofilms develop on any surface that bacteria can attach themselves to. The dilemma we face is that neither disinfectants and antibiotics, nor ...
Beijing pollution may trigger heart attacks, strokes.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Olympic athletes aren't the only ones who need to be concerned about the heavily polluted air in Beijing. The dirty air may trigger serious cardiovascular problems for some spectators. Two researchers in pulmonary medicine and critical care at Northwestern University's Feinberg ...
Researchers discover a gene that regulates and blocks ovulation.
Aug 04, 2008 ... This release is available in French. Montreal, July 17, 2008 u A group of Canadian and European researchers have unlocked the mystery of a gene with the potential to both regulate and block ovulation. The new study u a collaboration between the Universite de Montreal in Canada ...
Water-diffusion technology identifies brain regions damaged by prenatal alcohol exposure.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Scientists know that children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) often have structural brain damage. Yet little is known about how white matter connections, and deep gray matter structures that act as relay stations, are affected in children with FASD. A new study has used ...
Heart attack not a death sentence.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Survivors of cardiac arrest who received intensive care can expect long-term quality of life at reasonable expense to the health care system. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care is the first to show that the allocation of resources to the treatment of ...
A viral cloaking device.
Aug 04, 2008 ... PASADENA, Calif.--Viruses achieve their definition of success when they can thrive without killing their host. Now, biologists Pamela Bjorkman and Zhiru Yang of the California Institute of Technology have uncovered how one such virus, prevalent in humans, evolved over time to hide from the ...
Saharan dust storms sustain life in Atlantic Ocean.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Research at the University of Liverpool has found how Saharan dust storms help sustain life over extensive regions of the North Atlantic Ocean. Working aboard research vessels in the Atlantic, scientists mapped the distribution of nutrients including phosphorous and nitrogen and ...
Survey: Most effective dental braces are least attractive.
Aug 04, 2008 ... When it comes to the attractiveness of orthodontic braces, less metal is better, according to a recent survey. The study of the public's attitude about the attractiveness of various styles of braces indicates that the types of dental appliances with no visible metal were ...
Male kidneys for men only?
Aug 04, 2008 ... The gender of donor and recipient plays a larger role in kidney transplants than previously assumed. Female donor kidneys do not function as well in men u due to their smaller size. Women have a higher risk of rejecting a male donor kidney. Therefore, in the future, gender should be ...
Researchers urge integrating TB into HIV care.
Aug 04, 2008 ... In resource-limited settings where tuberculosis is a major cause of mortality among HIV patients and where a multidrug-resistant TB epidemic is emerging, researchers are pressing for approaches to integrate TB prevention and treatment into HIV care and treatment. "HIV programs ...
Landscape study may offer solutions for fire managers.
Aug 04, 2008 ... PORTLAND, Ore. July 23, 2008. A fire is currently burning through a study area where projections were made about fire behavior about 2 years ago. Managers used data and analysis from the Gotchen Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) study in the planning, analysis, and implementation of ...
Mini ECG gets heart attack rehab patients mobile.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Dr Charles Worringham of Queensland University of Technology's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation said the unique 'Cardiomobile' monitoring system, developed by Gold Coast company Alive Technologies, was being further developed and trialled together with QUT under an ARC Linkage ...
Pregnant mice block out unwelcome admirers to protect their pups.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Mouse mothers-to-be have a remarkable way to protect their unborn pups. Because the smell of a strange male's urine can cause miscarriage and reactivate the ovulatory cycle, pregnant mice prevent the action of such olfactory stimuli by blocking their smell. Researchers from the European ...
The genetics of the white horse unraveled.
Aug 04, 2008 ... The white horse is an icon for dignity which has had a huge impact on human culture across the world. An international team led by researchers at Uppsala University has now identified the mutation causing this spectacular trait and show that white horses carry an identical mutation that ...
As rates rise, researchers find better way to identify melanoma.
Aug 04, 2008 ... University of Rochester Medical Center researchers found a new protein produced excessively in malignant melanoma, a discovery that is particularly relevant as skin cancer rates climb dramatically among young women. The protein, IMP-3, is not over-expressed in harmless moles but ...
Argyrin: Natural substance raises hope for new cancer therapies.
Aug 04, 2008 ... The effective treatment of many forms of cancer continues to pose a major problem for medicine. Many tumours fail to respond to standard forms of chemotherapy or become resistant to the medication. Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the ...
Limiting fructose may boost weight loss, UT Southwestern researcher reports.
Aug 04, 2008 ... One of the reasons people on low-carbohydrate diets may lose weight is that they reduce their intake of fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quickly, according to a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Elizabeth Parks, associate professor of ...
Study examines motivations for tattoo removal.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Individuals who visit dermatology clinics for tattoo removal are more likely to be women than men, and may be motivated by the social stigma associated with tattoos and negative comments by others, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives ...
Cost of raising a child with special needs: Where does your state rank?
Aug 04, 2008 ... Therapies, rehabilitation and specialty medical care are just a few of the extra costs that parents face when raising children with special needs. In a new study that will be published in current issue of Pediatrics, Paul T. Shattuck, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington ...
Gene panel predicts lung cancer survival, study finds.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Researchers from four leading cancer centers have confirmed that an analysis involving a panel of genes can be used to predict which lung cancer patients will have the worst survival. The finding could one day lead to a test that would help determine who needs more aggressive treatment. ...
Vaccine for koala chlamydia close.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Professors Peter Timms and Ken Beagley from Queensland University of Technology's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) said the vaccinated koalas, which are at Brisbane's Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, were mounting a good response to the vaccine. "A good T-cell ...
Old eyes can learn new tricks; findings offer hope for adults with 'lazy eye'.
Aug 04, 2008 ... New evidence that the brain regions responsible for vision are capable of adapting in adults offers new hope for those with an untreated condition commonly known as lazy eye. Also called amblyopia, the condition is the most prevalent cause of visual impairment in a single eye, affecting ...
New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus.
Aug 04, 2008 ... For millennia, humans and viruses have been locked in an evolutionary back-and-forth -- one changes to outsmart the other, prompting the second to change and outsmart the first. With retroviruses, which work by inserting themselves into their host's DNA, the evidence remains in our genes ....
Chest pain center accreditation linked with better outcomes in heart attack patients.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Hospitals accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) have been shown to perform better in the heart attack core measures established by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as compared to non-accredited hospitals, according to a national study led by an Emory ...
Predicting the distribution of creatures great and small.
Aug 04, 2008 ... In studying how animals change size as they evolve, biologists have unearthed several interesting patterns. For instance, most species are small, but the largest members of a taxonomic group -- such as the great white shark, the Komodo dragon, or the African elephant u are often thousands ...
Averting postsurgical infections in kids: Give antibiotics within hour before first incision.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Giving children preventive antibiotics within one hour before they undergo spinal surgery greatly reduces the risk for serious infections after the surgery, suggests a Johns Hopkins study to be published in the August issue of Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (also available online ...
Blood-related genetic mechanisms found important in Parkinson's disease.
Aug 04, 2008 ... What does the genetics of blood cells have to do with brain cells related to Parkinson's disease? From an unusual collaboration of neurologists and a pharmacologist comes the surprising answer: Genetic mechanisms at play in blood cells also control a gene and protein that cause Parkinson's ...
CSHL scientists correlate enzyme expression levels with chemotherapy drug response.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Why do cancer patients develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs, sometimes abruptly, after a period in which the drugs seem to be working well to reduce tumors or hold them in check? Although largely a mystery to scientists, the result when this occurs is all too familiar: patients relapse ...
MIT-led team creates touch-based illusion.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Anyone who has seen an optical illusion can recall the quirky moment when you realize that the image being perceived is different from objective reality. Now, a team of scientists from MIT, Harvard and McGill has designed a new illusion involving the sense of touch, which is helping to ...
Liver unit reports higher than average success rate for children receiving living donor transplants.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Ninety-six per cent of children who have received liver transplants from living relations are still alive five years after surgery, according to research published in the July issue of the British Journal of Surgery. The findings by the Institute of Liver Studies at King's ...
Microbes beneath sea floor genetically distinct.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Tiny microbes beneath the sea floor, distinct from life on the Earth's surface, may account for one-tenth of the Earth's living biomass, according to an interdisciplinary team of researchers, but many of these minute creatures are living on a geologic timescale. "Our first ...
An ID for Alzheimer's?
Aug 04, 2008 ... Every aging baby boomer listens for the footsteps of Alzheimer's, and for good reason: It's estimated that 10 million American boomers will develop the disease. The need to develop preventative strategies, ideally long before Alzheimer's destructive, clinical symptoms appear, is critical. ...
Doctors' orders lost in translation.
Aug 04, 2008 ... When patients are discharged from the emergency department, their recovery depends on carefully following the doctors' instructions for their post care at home. Yet a vast majority of patients don't fully understand what they are supposed to do, and most are not even aware of the chasm in ...
Complex questions asked by defense lawyers linked to convictions in child abuse trials.(Report)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Defendants in child abuse cases are more likely to be convicted if their defense lawyer uses complicated language when interrogating young victims according to new research out of the University of Toronto and the University of Southern California. The National Institute of ...
Hyperactive immune resistance brings blindness in old age.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Age-dependent macular degeneration (AMD) is the commonest cause of blindness in the western industrialised nations. Hereditary changes in the regulation of the immune system influence the risk of contracting AMD. Opthalmologists at the University Clinic in Bonn, working in co-operation ...
Once suspect protein found to promote DNA repair, prevent cancer.
Aug 04, 2008 ... An abundant chromosomal protein that binds to damaged DNA prevents cancer development by enhancing DNA repair, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. The protein, HMGB1, ...
Political borders, health-care issues complicate pandemic planning.(Report)
Aug 04, 2008 ... Panic, staffing issues and geographic boundaries are some of the challenges that public health experts need to address as they plan for a possible influenza pandemic, according to a new report from Purdue University. "Most public health experts who are leading planning efforts ...
Using genetics to improve traditional psychiatric diagnoses.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Psychiatry has begun the laborious effort of preparing the DSM-V, the new iteration of its diagnostic manual. In so doing, it once again wrestles with the task set by Carl Linnaeus, to "cleave nature at its joints." However, these "joints," the boundaries between psychiatric disorders, ...
Pandemic flu: Most nursing homes don't have a plan.
Aug 04, 2008 ... If an influenza pandemic hits the United States, acute care hospitals are likely to be overwhelmed. Nursing homes may then be expected to assist with the patient overflow, but a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that many are not prepared for such a ...
Study shows emergency physicians have good first instincts in diagnosing heart attacks.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A study out of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center demonstrates emergency room doctors are correctly identifying patients who are having a heart attack, even when laboratory tests haven't yet confirmed it. The study used data from a registry called i*trACS, and ...
Bullying-suicide link explored in new study by researchers at Yale.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found signs of an apparent connection between bullying, being bullied and suicide in children, according to a new review of studies from 13 countries published in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. "While ...
Sugar study is sweetener for stem cell science.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Scientists at The University of Manchester are striving to discover how the body's natural sugars can be used to create stem cell treatments for heart disease and nerve damage u thanks to a [pounds sterling]370,000 funding boost. All cells that make up the tissues of the body u ...
Researchers hack final part of the immune system code.
Aug 04, 2008 ... A group of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Biocentre at the Technical University of Denmark have managed to decipher the final part of the immune system's key codes. The same researchers already broke the first part of the codes last autumn, and have now ...
6 of every 100 patients die in hospital due to adverse drug reaction.
Aug 04, 2008 ... This release is also available in Spanish. Six of every 100 patients who die in hospital do so as a consequence of an adverse drug reaction or, in other words, a fatal reaction to medicines. Those are the conclusions of a research carried out at the Department of Medicine of the University ...
Fresh from the grapevine to the table.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Table grapes are subject to serious water loss and decay while making the long trip from the vine to dinner tables around the world. Mold and browning of the stems are the two main factors that reduce grape quality during shipping and storage in retail produce sections. Pads ...
Coffee and cigarette consumption are high among AA attendees.
Aug 04, 2008 ... More than one million Americans currently participate in the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. Recent findings confirm that coffee and cigarette use among AA members is greater than among the general U.S. population. Most AA members drink coffee for its stimulatory effects; more than half ...
New roadside beautification concept studied.
Aug 04, 2008 ... Travel America's highways or drive down any city street this summer and you'll probably see them. From small, manicured beds of flowers maintained by community volunteers to extensive landscaping projects along America's byways, roadside gardens are taking root. Aside from the ...
Neurotherapeutics presents special issue on new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
Aug 04, 2008 ... The editors of Neurotherapeutics are pleased and proud to announce their July issue, devoted to "Novel Therapeutics for Alzheimer's Disease." Neurotherapeutics (http://www.neurotherapeutics.org/) is the journal of the American Society of Experimental NeuroTherapeutics (ASENT) ...
Study outlines measures to limit effects of pandemic flu on nursing homes.
Aug 04, 2008 ... The greatest danger in a pandemic flu outbreak is that it could spread quickly and devastate a broad swath of people across the United States before there is much of a chance to react. The result could be a nation brought to its knees by a disease run rampant. Among those most ...
Cranberry juice creates energy barrier that keeps bacteria away from cells, study shows.
Aug 04, 2008 ... For generations, people have consumed cranberry juice, convinced of its power to ward off urinary tract infections, though the exact mechanism of its action has not been well understood. A new study by researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) reveals that the juice changes the ...